Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators in Indiana
May 2025 wages · tax year 2026
You keep
$41,204
after federal, FICA and Indiana tax
Tax takes
$9,176
18.2% of the whole
Worth, in national money
$44,697
Indiana costs less than average
On that salary you would be around the 25th percentile for this work in Indiana — roughly, since only five points along the band are published.
One filer, standard deduction, no dependants and nothing paid in before tax — the same household the rest of this page uses, so the comparison holds. City and school-district income taxes are not included.
Median here
$50,380
Kept after tax
$41,204
Worth in national money
$44,697
State rank
33
of 50 states
What this pays, and what it is worth
- Middling, nationally. Indiana pays this job around $50,380 at the midpoint, 33 of 50 states. The interesting numbers on this page are the two below it.
- Middle of the local pack. Of 493 occupations Indiana reports figures for, this is number 278.
- Cheaper living works in this state's favor. From $50,380 you keep $41,204 after tax, and local prices stretch that to the equivalent of $44,697 at national prices. Averages run higher here, $57,670, since top earners drag the number up.
- For paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators the Indiana median is $50,380, ranking 33 of 50 states reporting. Mid-band nominal positions are the ones most frequently reordered by the adjustments, because no large wage premium exists to absorb a state's tax or price level.
- In Indiana's occupational distribution, paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators sits at 278 of 493 — neither quartile. This local position is what a resident compares against, and it is determined by the state's own labor market rather than by national patterns for this occupation.
- Retained pay in Indiana is $41,204 after the full tax stack, from $50,380. Because the state's price level runs below the national average, the price-adjusted equivalent is $44,697 — a real-terms figure describing purchasing power rather than compensation, and not a number that appears on any pay stub. Mean pay of $57,670 exceeds the median, so the upper tail is doing the work.
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Pay band: Paving, Surfacing, and Tamping Equipment Operators
The state median for this job
| Lowest tenth earn under | $39,630 |
|---|---|
| Half earn under | $50,380 |
| Top tenth earn over | $91,350 |
| This salary | $50,380 |
Positions between the published tenth, quarter, half, three-quarter and ninetieth points are estimated by straight line.
The same pay, somewhere else
The state median for this job
| Take-home in Indiana | $41,204 |
|---|---|
| Take-home in Texas | $42,660 |
| Once local prices are leveledBEA price parity | −$797 |
The raise and the real gain point in opposite directions here.
State income tax and state price levels only. No city income tax, and no housing market.
What you would need there
The state median for this job
| To match take-home only | $48,567 |
|---|---|
| Raise you would need | +$963 |
| Prices in Texas | 97 vs 92 |
State taxes and state price levels only. No city tax, and no housing market.
Sources and assumptions
- Half the people doing this work in Indiana earn less than $50,380. The published range is $39,630 up to $91,350, so an individual figure can sit a long way from the middle in either direction.
- One filer, no dependants, no pension contributions — that is the household behind Indiana's $41,204, worked from $50,380. That is on purpose. It lets states be compared with each other, not with each other's family circumstances. Local city taxes are left out. Locally this work ranks 278 of 493.
- The wage data and the price data come from different years. That is how each is published. The price adjustment behind $44,697 uses one figure for the whole of Indiana. A city and a rural county there can differ by more than two states do. Out of 493 occupations the state publishes, this one sits at 278.
- Reported values are medians; for paving, surfacing, and tamping equipment operators in Indiana the tenth-to-ninetieth percentile band is $39,630 to $91,350. Neither the median nor the band is an offer rate, and neither accounts for hours, shift differentials or overtime.
- The Indiana take-home of $41,204, on $50,380 for work ranking 278 of 493 locally, models the simplest household deliberately: holding it constant is what makes the interstate comparison meaningful. It also means the absolute figure overstates liability for most real filers, and municipal income taxes are outside the model entirely. The occupation ranks 278 of 493 in the state.
- Wage and price series carry different reference periods, each published on its own schedule. The real-terms figure of $44,697, worked from $50,380, deflates by a statewide parity that conceals substantial intra-state variation, concentrated in housing — so it supports comparison between states rather than the pricing of a move to a particular Indiana address, on work sitting at 278 of 493 locally.
Questions people ask
Is this the average pay for the job?
It is the midpoint, not the average. The average here is $57,670, dragged up by high earners; the middle figure describes a typical worker better.
Why is the pay range for this job so wide?
The label is broader than the work. From $39,630 at the bottom tenth to $91,350 at the top, the same title covers roles that share little beyond a name.
What does this pay actually buy where I live?
Further than the number implies. Indiana is cheaper than the national average, so this take-home behaves like $44,697 in national terms.
Where does the difference between the wage and my paycheck go?
Three of them are federal and one is not. After income tax, Social Security, Medicare and Indiana's own levy, $41,204 remains.
Why is this job missing from some states?
A blank is a suppression, not a zero. 50 states have a published figure for this work; the others had too few responses to release one.
How does the published median differ from the mean for this occupation?
The median is the midpoint of the distribution; the mean for this occupation in Indiana is $57,670. Wage distributions are right-skewed, so the mean exceeds the median wherever a minority earn substantially more. BLS publishes both because substituting one for the other misstates a typical worker's pay.
What drives the percentile dispersion in this occupation?
Dispersion between the tenth percentile ($39,630) and the ninetieth ($91,350) exceeds the family median dispersion. SOC codes aggregate roles differing in seniority, industry and specialisation, and BLS does not disaggregate below the detailed occupation level, so within-title variance is not separable from the published series.
What is this occupation's price-adjusted compensation in this state?
Indiana's regional price parity is at or below the national average, so nominal wages understate purchasing power. Take-home deflated by the state price level is $44,697 in national-average terms. The adjustment uses an all-items index and does not isolate housing.
What accounts for the gap between gross wage and take-home here?
Take-home of $41,204 reflects federal income tax, OASDI, Medicare and Indiana income tax for a single filer with no adjustments. The state layer is levied in addition to the federal one; only its rate and base differ between states.
Why does this occupation lack published estimates in every state?
BLS suppresses estimates failing disclosure or reliability criteria. This occupation has published state-level estimates in 50 of the fifty-one jurisdictions. Suppression reflects sample size and confidentiality rules, and cannot be read as an absence of employment.